This amazing dessert has no name, but it certainly has punch!

I had mentioned on Facebook tonight that my wife had made dessert for us: Ice-cream and ‘Schnapps over a slice of pine-apple. The first comment included the recipe below, courtesy of a fellow Facebook-follower:

1. Cover pineapple slice with brown sugar.
2. Pour on Brandy and bake in the oven for a very short time.
3. Cover in a double-shot of Butterscotch Schnapps.
4. Place dollops of icecream over contents to fit size of bowl.

We plan to make this recipe over the weekend! Enjoy!

This is a real and actual extract from a “Home Economics” book printed all the way back in 1950.

I had the book for a long time, then when I met SWMBO found it on the wall. I married her not because I thought she would follow the instructions, but because we are good friends who enjoyed each others company. Thirteen years on, we are still happily married. Just read the following:

HAVE DINNER READY

Plan ahead – even the night before – to have a delicious meal ready on time. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking about him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the welcome needed.

PREPARE YOURSELF

Take fifteen minutes to rest so you will be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair, and be fresh looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people. Be a little jovial and a little more interesting. His boring day may need a lift.

CLEAR AWAY THE CLUTTER

Make one last rip through the main part of the house just before your husband arrives, gathering up school books, toys papers, etc. Then run a dust cloth over the tables.
Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of rest and order, and it will give you a lift too.

SOME DON’TS

Don’t greet him with problems of complaints. Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner.
Count this as minor, compared with what he might have gone through that day.

PREPARE THE CHILDREN

Take a few minutes to wash the children’s hands and faces. If they are small, comb their hair, and, if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures, and he would like to see them playing the part.

MINIMISE THE NOISE

At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of washer, dryer, dishwasher, or vacuum cleaner. Try to encourage the children to be quiet. Greet him with a warm smile and be glad to see him.

MAKE HIM COMFORTABLE

Have him lean back in a comfortable chair or suggest he lie down in the bedroom. Have a cool warm drink ready for him. Arrange his pillows and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soft, soothing and pleasant voice. Allow him to relax – unwind.

LISTEN TO HIM

You may have a dozen things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first.

MAKE THE EVENING HIS

Never complain if he does not take you out to dinner or to other places of entertainment. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure, his need to be home and relax.

THE GOAL

Try to make your home a place of peace and order where your husband can renew himself in body and spirit.

If my woman SWMBO read that, you’d be able to hear her laughing in Dreamworld.

Don’t let your neighbour set your standards. Be yourself.

When I was about sixteen years old, my parents gave my stepbrother a great book: How to Win Friends and Influence People. I am fairly sure he read it. And I know everyone else did too. I managed to get my hands on the book for a week, reading it cover to cover. But that was … sheesh, twenty one years ago. I am going to purchase it for myself.

This book not only taught me about interpersonal communication, effective negotiation, and how to win/lose an argument without getting beaten to a pulp. Twenty years on, and I sometimes wonder if I actually read the book. I remember it – but I sometimes have days where I take life a little too seriously, take on way too much for one person, and forget that I am not immortal.

As an Australian, the worst crime we have is believing we are so far away from the rest of the world that those atrocities could never happen over here. You never know when that bus is going to hit.

Make the best of your circumstances. Everyone has problems.

It’s our circumstances that make us who we become. Not just what we choose to do with our life, but how we try to fix the problems we perceive we have. Or if we do anything at all.

Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

Having taken an interest in a few different subjects over the last twenty years, I am happy to have settled into this one: Web Site Design and Development. What do I enjoy most? Building and testing CSS. Shooting photographs of unusual items in my ‘shtudio’, portraits of people and colourful landscapes. Consequently, I smile a lot more than I have in a long time.

I have so many other interests that take up a lot of my time that I lead a very busy life. When people ask what I do in my spare time, I say "Sleep." Simple as that. Some people seem to think I am copping out of an answer, so will ask again, "Haha, but really. What do you do?" That’s a different question, I respond, but do you really want to know the answer? Usually they do not.

Anyhow, it’s my life, I am keeping myself very busy at a lot of different things. I can be found simultaneously purchasing shares to make my next billion credit, creating an image for an advertisement that will be see all around Australia, dreaming of my next camera, designing a website for a friend PLUS vacuum the lounge-rugs.

For those who are asking, "Why?" Because sometimes its good for both the brain and spirit to remind oneself of the journey, not just the pit stops along the way. Especially when they are pits and stops, but not an oil change.

Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.

This is one area that I am constantly aware of. When I see how huge sums of money are being wasted on the most pointless events or things – like flying into orbit around the planet to see foam burn – I have to ask if we are doing all we can for those people on earth who live on next to nothing every moment of the day.

When associates during my day-job light up a cigarette, I have to ask if they know what the price of a packet of cancer-sticks would do for someone living in the third world. The sorry-part is that they don’t seem to care, nor want to know, nor even realise why they have that bad cough that won’t go away.

An estimated 1.1 billion people in the world don’t have access to clean drinking water, and an estimated 1.6 billion don’t have electricity.

I do what I can for the less fortunate by not spoiling the stratosphere with chemical-laden and poisonous cigarette smoke.

I’ve tasted the best dip possible, a home-made recipe. Thankfully the maker was happy to give it to me.
As it says, it’s all stuffed into a ‘cob loaf’. I hereby name this a “Man’s Meal”!

SPINACH DIP

1 packet frozen spinach (finely chopped) (in a box from freezer at supermarket) thawed
1 bunch of spring onions finely chopped
1 packet of spring vegetable soup (packet – not cup-a-soup, just dried packet)
200 ml sour cream
200 ml mayonaise (whole egg)

Mix everything together, also nice served in a cob loaf with the inside pulled out and broken up to use as dippers

YUMMO!

Don’t hold post-mortems. Don’t spend your life brooding over sorrows and mistakes.

Ain’t this the truth? To much time is spent by a lot of people brooding over things that happened years ago, even two minutes ago. Time cannot be brought back, nor reconstructed, not really.

Ok, so we all make a few mistakes, we send out an email to the wrong people, we snail-mail a bill to the wrong office, or leave a brown-bag of steaming dog-poo on the wrong porch – Hey, life goes on. Everything will wash away eventually…

If you must grieve the loss of a few dollars on a bad purchase, at least use the tool or toy a few times before giving them to charity.

Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about new places.

This is the one thing I love about the internet. I cannot afford to travel far and wide overseas. We managed to get to New Zealand about five years ago – but unless we win the lottery or one of us manages to secure a better-paying job, or EmailCash finally pays out, I don’t see us going anywhere further than a thousand kilometres for a few years yet.

So I travel around the internet. Google News, Technorati, Bloglines, and many other desktop configurations allow me to go around the globe in sixty minutes. Who needs airlines when the world-wide-web gives us instant access? Its like when the Twin-Towers unfortunately fell: Most of us who had internet access watched the second tower fall in REAL-time. Scary.

Having a wide interest in a lot of differing subjects means not being restricted to one or two websites. The world-wide-web is the ultimate oyster.

Hate poisons the soul, so don’t carry grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.

I gave up hating anyone many years ago. It is so true that it poisons the soul. It also makes you a recluse because you cut yourself off from anyone who can do whatever what was done last time again.

What we need to do is not ‘avoid people who make us unhappy’, but ‘find like-minded people’. This might joining community-groups and/or non-profit organisations, joining a local sports group, going to new locations to meet new people – particularly those who don’t smoke and don’t mind sushi for lunch.

Maybe its a group of people who like to write children’s-books, or enjoy a few hours of Chess-playing in the Botanic Gardens, or a LAN-group who either enjoy Dungeons and Dragons or testing Web Design-styles.

Don’t borrow trouble. Imaginary burdens are harder to bear than the actual ones.

Much like taking oneself too seriously, one can imagine that life’s burdens are terrible cross to bare.

The truth is that most troubles are nothing more than something in the mind, or a state of the heart, or simply a gross exaggeration of something that we only imagine is bad.

Don’t fret over something until it actually happens, and don’t dwell on it in the mean-time. If you think something is going to turn out bad, find a way to stop it, prevent it, or alleviate it.

Think of trouble as opportunities to improve oneself.

I used to respond to my name being called with "What did I do this time?" Now I say, "How can I help you?" If it should be something incorrectly done, I quietly think about what could be worse. Then I remember I live in Australia. Nothing is so bad it cannot be washed away with Bourbon Whisky Chocolate Ice-Cream!

Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.

To quote from "Whatever You Think, Think the Opposite" (a book by Paul Arden),

Too many people spend too much time trying to perfect something before they actually do it. Instead of waiting for perfection, run with what you’ve got, and fix it as you go.

Small problem though: My idea of ‘unique’ changes every five minutes. At least I am happy.

I found this great list over at Troy Worman’s corner of the internet a few years ago. It’s not there any more, but it’s still a great series by which to live your life:

12 Tips on Building a Positive Attitude

1. Make up your mind to be happy. Learn to find pleasure in simple things.
2. Make the best of your circumstances. Everyone has problems.
3. You can’t please everybody. Don’t let criticism worry you.
4. Don’t let your neighbour set your standards. Be yourself.
5. Do the things you enjoy, but stay out of debt.
6. Don’t borrow trouble. Imaginary burdens are harder to bear than the actual ones.
7. Hate poisons the soul, so don’t carry grudges. Avoid people who make you unhappy.
8. Have many interests. If you can’t travel, read about new places.
9. Don’t hold post-mortems. Don’t spend your life brooding over sorrows and mistakes.
10. Do what you can for those less fortunate than yourself.
11. Keep busy at something. A busy person never has time to be unhappy.

My next eleven articles will expand on each of these. Links to each will be added shortly after the last article is published.

Today I did something quite radical for me: I responded to a most interesting plurk (from PritchardDesign) regarding Megan McCain’s quote where she states she is ‘Pro-Sex‘. Normally I would stop there and say nothing more.

But this time I went on to search through the internet to determine what all the fuss was about and why it would reach top of the search-engine’s.

After reading quite a diverse range of sites, all of them above-board yet on the fringe between debauch and informative, I used Google to search on ‘definition pro-sex’. (I was led on quite a lengthy merry-go-round via numerous sites, slowly getting annoyed by often redneck definitions upon mismanaged Wiki’s!)

In the end, I landed upon a substantive and elaborate definition at UrbanDictionary. They have an interesting definition that helped explain the McCain statement a lot further. But I am really after the definition, the reasoning of putting ‘pro‘ in front of a word.

Then I found this word: Proaffixion.

I had to laugh, but it puts it all into perspective and slightly parody’s the usage of any word that is prefixed with ‘pro‘. It is a word that helps us explain how and why we have such words as ‘Pro-Life, Pro-Earth, Pro-Redbubble, Pro-Black, Pro-White, etc‘.

It turns out this word, not only is its own definition, but it also explains (with humour) that people are grabbing words out of the air to explain their stance on many things in life.

To explain each part of the word, here is the Latin definition of each component:

“pro”… to be for
“affix”… root words that make up words, often of greek or latin origin
“ion”… the act of doing or being
and possibly
“ist”… somone who practices the preceding word
or
“ism”… an ideology

Thus suggesting that words are made up with a mix of these prefixes and suffixes so that people will be able to understand upon hearing without needing too much explanation. This would imply that the general population understand the Latin meaning of these prefixes and how they effect the usage and meaning.

If you are pro-life, you love life. If you are a pro-smoker, you love smoking. With Meghan McCain saying “I am Pro-Sex”, it is little wonder these new words reach the headlines around America!

Me, I am Pro-Plurk. But you probably figured that out.

I don’t know where I’d be in the world if I hadn’t discovered online ‘Social networking’.

Sites like Plurk (and PlurkFest Oz 2009), Twitter, Facebook, Skype and various other online social-sites have enabled one tenth of the planet to talk to each other via their computers instead of the telephone.

But I do know this: You and I certainly wouldn’t have found Yooouuutuuube.com. Not by accident, not in a million years. I only found it because someone mentioned it on Facebook. Now I am telling everyone about it!

Now I am able to view and watch a wall of ‘With or Without You’ by U2 within my browser.

Long Live the Internet!

I have lived in Adelaide since 1987. From ’87 to ’94, I was on a bus at least twice a day, sometimes four times. In order to get anywhere, you have to go via the Adelaide CBD – thus getting to some suburbs meant TWO buses. It’s now I wish I had gotten my Drivers Licence back when I was 16, more than half my life ago!

For the first time in over 10 years, I am back on an Adelaide bus.
And it’s not quite the experience I wanted, yet not any less than I expected.

For the second night, I’ve discovered the interesting horrors that are endured. The buses seem not to have improved at all since I finished High School. Yeah, they build ‘em better now, and they look clean. Yet … They still stink like a camels sweaty leg-pit after crossing the Nullarbor Plains.

After a few minutes of sharing this sardine-can on wheels, the combined body odours forms a translucent gelatine which we all swim when attempting to escape through the non-pliant doors.

Whether sitting or standing, there is no escaping the continual stop/start as each bus-stop, stop-light, stupid car driver or unpredictable and random moment whereupon the driver stabs his left foot upon the brake-pedal. One could almost assume that the brake is auto-executed when he lifts his foot from the accelerator, it happens so often!

I swear the seat padding has not been replaced since Noah gave the two Yeti’s seats on the Arc! What little padding remains is now a hindrance as it stabs at my gluteus maximus in much the same way that the princess felt the pea at the bottom of the mattresses.

Taking corners at speed forces hand from pocket up to the window, bars, nooses… Wait, that is a hand-strap? Anybody shorter than five-foot-tall had best find a step-ladder!

Standing passengers frantically adjust their feet to ensure they don’t tumble over. Having a mesh of bodies is suddenly not a bad thing: Crammed together as one large mass means no one moves at all, we just sway in unison like a thousand hippies at Woodstock.

The only downside is that the people in the middle either die from suffocation, crushed bones or from the desperation of not getting off where they need.

As the evening darkens, discerning one bus stop from the next gets difficult. Since I’ve not travelled these back roads in some time, I get a little disorientated. Is that the sinking sun in the west or the glow of the city? Cupping my hand to the window and face, hoping a land feature will protrude from the darkness, I bring my phone to my ear…

I’ve rung the wife to tell her I think the train is closer to the CBD than home, and that I might be another 15 minutes. She says not to worry, she’ll meet me at a well-lit bus that’ll I surely recognise and not miss. Suddenly a hole appears in the ozone layer (the traffic thins as we head up the hill), and moments later I’m standing on the side of the road making the phone call to find out she just left home.

Sigh. You just cannot get good transport these days.

The one thing I hate most about bus rides is competing for standing room.

Everyone gets on at each station, pushing and shoving to get personal space. But not before the doors battering our shoulders as inmates either beg to escape or contort limbs into the canister. Like elevators, there should be a capacity limit!

Eventually sitting passengers have to contend with an array of crotches, and those standing have no breathing space. Multiple aromas interact, forming gaseous clouds that explain why the hole in the ozone layer follows buses across the planet. His LYNX plus her CHANEL equals various element missing from the table OR a substance similar to SEMTEX … The volatility caused upon breathing in can set off a brain aneurysm and invoke anger issues that no repression will let you forget.

Any phobia you had of enclosed spaces or crowds is replaced by a rash down your thighs caused by polyestor and cotton threads rubbing together. No two humans should rub together for than fifteen minutes unless they really REALLY like each other! Upon escape, thankfully the smell doesn’t longer too long. Until we do it tonight.

And there are those humans who wake up of a morning with the idea to spike their hair with gel so that it is sharp enough to poke a hole in the sole of sanity! Whilst I might have permed my hair down to my shoulders back in the mid 1980′s, it baffles me why anyone would spend so much money to enhance a feature of their body that grows and dies faster than any other part of their body.

An array of male wannabe-models parade throughout the carriage, their hair spiked skywards , their slacks ironed to within pixels of perfection, shirts with solid collars and cuffs … and shoes that prove that crocodiles must rust after death.

Female bus dwellers must hate casual day of the week. Very few have any discernible sign of uniformity. Multi-coloured shirts, skirts, slacks, hair and handbags, a retailers dream, a marketing manager’s backyard.

Suffering students are the bane of every ride. Between screaming into the next students eardrums through to fits of satanic laughter, the current generation remind me that I really need to top up my superannuation!

Thankfully this ride ended before I could write any more, so this is where I end. Until next I enter Dante‘s other hell.

Are phone calls on public transport subject to the same rules as online chatting on Plurk, Twitter, Facebook and any online social networking tool?

Can anyone jump in, particularly if they have a (in)valid response or argument that might add substance to the discussion?

Or are we really only sociable online because it’s the only location where the thoughts of others are appreciated?

Ironically, your answers & thoughts appreciated.

Following on from my post entitled “Ten Habits to Establish and Enjoy“, here is Habit #1:

Sleep

I’m not here to tell you how many hours a night you should be getting – that is different for everyone. Your family doctor will say 8-hours is healthy, your web-doctor says 6 at a minimum, and your eyes reckon you can survive 28 hours without sleep! (Sad to admit it but I’ve gone 32 hours without sleep)

The real problem here is how regularly and when you sleep.

It is important that we sleep regularly every day or night of the week. I encourage you to set aside specific hours each day where you lie horizontally with your eyes closed.

This place should be free of gadgetry – the point here is to rest your eyes from strain and work. A book is acceptable because it may help for you to reach REM sleep where your neurons keep working to fix brain cells but your body relaxes whilst recharging.

Sleeping for an exact amount of time teaches the body and brain when to turn off and back on. When you have no predetermined time, your brain may choose to sleep whenever IT chooses.

That would be bad. That’s what causes macro sleeps, sore and cramped muscles and food craving – a mind that doesn’t know when to stop trys to find energy from other parts of your body.

Tomorrow: “2. Eating Just Right”

One of the most annoying things about life is having habits that do not have any benefit.

Some people have bred habits that teach them to go to bed very late on a week night. That develops a habit of taking the late train each morning.. So they miss breakfast, take less care on personal hygiene, appearance & attire.

Can you spot where that person could easily change a few habits? Just one change in their lifestyle could make all the difference, including make them a better person. Who wouldn’t want to make that change?

To make it easier for you I’m listing ten good habits that you can easily slip into your daily routine. Some might have these components already, so you can think of this as a reminder of how effective your habits are and how much the effort is worth.

Right, what is the número-uno and most important aspect of our lives? I’m sure most people know this but need a gentle reminder. Yes, Sleep.

One of the most amazing sites to spot on a train these days is people, young through old, with Laptop and Notebooks … like me with my Dell Mini.

We’ve entered a phase in history where the portable computer is an accessory to carry everywhere, not to hide away in the back room.

Instead of living in fear of theft, we worry about where we can next get a free internet connection.

Most people carry some form of device that enables them to communicate with the rest of of the world, but most particularly with their friends, family and work. More and more I see gamers and coders utilising their travel -time, both bus and train, to get on with a few projects or complete some writing.

As I am now one of the many with a portable device that includes a QWERTY keyboard, I fully relate. There is nothing so cool as listening to your favourite music whilst tip-tapping away at something that is supposedly vitally important to our well-being so much that we feel it important to type it during the time we originally spent catching a few extra minutes sleep.

No more do the young of this planet read paper-backed books — they have eBooks. These are books that have been fully downloaded via the internet for easily reading via their PC. The Apple Touch and iPhone have this facility down to a fine-art. With them, you can choose white on black, black on white, or even the font of choice!

For all of us that enjoy writing about our daily life, this means we can even write about the journey, the views, the other passengers and life as we go through it.

Thus I entrust you take heed when next you see a passenger take the metal-notepad from their backpack… your reaction may well be what they write about for the world to learn.